Hilja and Zach are getting married in a few weeks! We met up in The West Loop, where the temp was about 15 degree and we quickly began to freeze. We had to seek warmth and shelter and we found it at Chicago’s smokiest bar, Richards. That’s where Zach and Hilja first met. Zach and Hilja were so much fun to hang around and photograph. I can’t wait to shoot them again early next month!

Pat and Liz will be getting hitched in a few months and they asked me to photograph the festivities. At first, they weren’t to crazy about doing an engagement shoot so we decided to keep it real informal. Perfect! We met up for a pretty loose shoot at the historic Old Town Ale House, right across the street from Second City, where Pat does improv. The nicotine stained portraits of the bar’s past customers watched over us as we chatted and took pictures between sips of our drinks. It was a fun hang and I’m pretty psyched about shooting their wedding in 2015!

I recently made a house call to the home of this lovely family. They needed something slightly silly to be printed on their Christmas Cards. We ordered a pizza, cracked a winter ale, gathered ’round the ol’ Christmas cactus and took a few pics. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Local artist’s EC Brown and Catie Olson hosted Krampusnacht ’13 at their home/studio/art space. There was lots of Krampus themed art, wintery grub, glogg, dancing and this photo booth where i got to photograph revelers. The guests were given the opportunity to sit on Krampus’ lap, receive swats from the demon’s broom or just have their mug taken in front of this really cool curtain. The Krampus costume and the beautifully crafted curtain were made by Rebecca Hinsdale. Her company, Make a Scene can create a booth for your event!

Kevin and Deb’s Wedding was a two-parter. On the first day, we hailed a cab to City Hall and got in line with a bunch of other smilin’ couples where we waited for the doors to bust open. A small group of Kevin and Deb’s immediate family met up with us to witness the magic. The clock struck 9AM and everybody filed into the building and waited for their names to be called. After a few short minutes, Kevin and Deb were called into the chambers. The judge uttered a few magic words and with a wave of his hand, our lovely couple were married. After the lightning-quick ceremony, the couple and I took a quick stroll around the loop for some pics and then jumped on the train to head back toward their Lincoln Square Hood. We stopped at a pretty little community garden for a few more portraits and called it a day.

Kevin and Deb didn’t want to spend any of their precious party energy on getting married, so the party part of the wedding took place 2 weeks after they were married. This proved to be a good idea as all the revelers were fully energized and ready to party. Everybody ate, danced and chatted and rocked the night away while still being able to enjoy a beautiful autumn evening, curtesy Dank Haus’ huge balcony. This party was so much fun. There was even a giant cannoli stuffed with little cannolis! Thanks for asking me to be a part!

The Spooky Forest Installation at The Storefront Gallery was pretty damn fun. Thanks to my good pal Todd Klebenow, once again, for helping me paint the background….and generally figure out how to put this thing together and make it work in a small room and thanks to Brandon and Angel, who operate The Storefront, for letting me stink up the space during Halloween Week. Lots of people showed up in some pretty unique and creative costumes. We managed to drag a healthy handful of trick-or-treaters inside to have their portraits taken and even managed to really creep out a few people and send them running. Must have been a combo of the fog, strobe lights and home-made spooky tunes. A successful Halloween indeed! Custom made installations, like this, will be available for your events soon so stay tuned!

I will be shooting Halloween Portraits at The Storefront Galley (2606 N. California…Just north of Logan Blvd.). My good pal Todd Klebenow helped with a lot of the backdrop painting and general assembling of this thing. There’ll be candy and some beer (will be gone fast). Stop by when you’re lookin’ weird and on your way to some Halloween party. Stop by while you’re trick-or-treating or just stop by. Bring your kids! Bring the whole family!
Here are the hours of operation:
10/25 7-10 or 11
10/27 3-7
10/31 4-7

I met up with Kate and David for an engagement session around Logan Square. We started at their place and decided to grab a few sweet and tender portraits with Hannah the dog but Hannah was more into showing off her running and rolling skills. We eventually caught up with Hannah and held her down for a quick pic. So away we strolled down The Bouelavard and toward The Centennial Monument. Most of the local riffraff split at the sight of my camera and gave us the space that we needed for making some portraits. All of that modeling worked up a thirst so we ducked into Billy Sunday’s for a few sips of whiskey and prepared to head back home….with sparklers. A fine evening for all! Kate and David are getting married at a BBQ joint later this month and I can’t wait to shoot it!

The Tarantismo Summit Art Show 2013 blazed by a couple weekends ago at Chris Ilth’s Ravens Nest. I was offered a space to set up an installation/photo booth of sorts for the entire weekend and the cargo elevator seemed like the perfect little spot to roll a tree stump into, lay some sod, and let the smoke rise. The place was jammed with all kinds of eye bulging art from way-out and underground musician types like Jimbo Easter, Mac Blackout, Ben Lyon, Christopher Ilth and so many more. A few people commented on how much they liked the “nature installation”. I was genuinely thrilled to inform them that it was a photo booth and that they should have a seat on the stump and let me work my magic. It was a wonderful weekend! I’ll be setting up another installation later this summer at a gallery space in Logan Square. More details soon!